


I Knew You Were Trouble

by yeehawlazuli



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27528304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeehawlazuli/pseuds/yeehawlazuli
Summary: Through the hard way, Peridot learned that she was becoming increasingly terrible at sleeping.Or:Peridot meets Lapis at 3 AM where Lapis's truck had broken down in the middle of the road.
Relationships: Jasper/Lapis Lazuli (Steven Universe), Lapis Lazuli/Peridot (Steven Universe)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	I Knew You Were Trouble

**Author's Note:**

> hey! i haven't posted a SU fic in a while but i decided to come back to it, sooo  
> enjoy!

Through the hard way, Peridot had learned that she was becoming increasingly terrible at sleeping.

It wasn’t even entirely that she couldn’t force herself to sleep, she could if she really tried. But rather she had so many things she wanted to do, like rewatch season 2 of Camp Pining Hearts, or play the newest video game she had bought, and it just so happened that 2 AM was about the only time she wasn’t doing school or working.

So, she stared at her computer screen as a new episode of CPH loaded. She sat with her head rested on her hand, her glasses crooked on her face as she stared like a brain dead zombie at the TV show she was now barely actually comprehending with her lack of sleep.

The theme song started playing. Peridot’s eyes narrowed, slipping shut entirely after a moment. For a second, she was falling asleep.

A loud buzz rang throughout her tiny apartment, and Peridot nearly had a heart attack, jumping out of her skin and completely falling off of her desk chair. Her backside hit the floor with a loud thump, and Peridot had never once in her life wanted to cuss so badly. She was slightly more awake now, at least.

“Okay, Peridot, chill out,” She spoke out loud to her empty apartment, and pulled herself up with some struggle. She was so tired she was inclined to just fall asleep right on the floor. Her barely awake mind decided the noise came from her cell phone, the buzz amplified by the wood of her desk, and she grabbed it in annoyance as it kept on buzzing, and buzzing, and buzzing. “What?!” She bit into the phone once she answered the call, not bothering to look at the contact name.

“Nice to talk to you, too, Peridot,” It was Pearl talking.

Peridot could recognize her voice anywhere. Pearl was an uptight, prissy woman with the most irritating voice that Peridot had ever heard...But Pearl was actually pretty nice to her.

She sighed, sincerely guilty for how she had sounded, and muttered, “My...Apologies, Pearl. It is nice to talk to you.”

“It’s okay. Anyway,” Pearl continued, yelping loudly as Amethyst yelled straight into the phone. Peridot cringed at the loud noise and held her phone away from her ear, putting it on speaker. That would probably be safer for her eardrums and sanity.

“I don’t have all night,” Peridot snapped, despite not being busy at all.

“I would really appreciate it if you could come get Amethyst, Garnet, and I. Amethyst is drunk, and Garnet and I are pretty messed up, too, so... None of us can drive, and not gonna lie, Uber isn’t that popular in Beach City.”

That was true.

“Can’t you call Rose?” Peridot asked groggily, really wishing they could.

“We tried, she...isn’t answering,” Pearl answered, a layer of discomfort and disgust in her voice as she barely spoke above a mutter. Judging by that, Peridot figured Rose was probably occupied with Greg...Gross. “I’m really sorry, Peridot, but will you please?”

Against her whole body’s will, Peridot prolonged her sleep even further and told Pearl, “I’ll get you. Text me the address.”

The relief was evident in Pearl’s voice as she said, “Thank you so much.”

“No problem, Pearl,” Peridot said, sincerely. As much as she wanted to actually die right now, Pearl was nice and Peridot would do whatever she could to help her and the other two. “See you soon.” With that, she hung up, and glanced at the time on her phone.

2:46 A.M.

Peridot groaned, wishing she was not as nice of a person as she was. She dug around her desk for a moment, searching for her keys, and after a couple of minutes she found them and let out a victorious, “Ha!”

Keys and phone in hand, Peridot headed out of her apartment, not bothering to change from her pajamas. She was going to pick up three girls from a bar, it’s not like she was going to the White House.

—

Peridot lazily turned the volume up on her car’s radio, fingers barely grazing the dial, and hoped the music would soothe her.

As she turned onto a dark, tiny dirt road, she yawned heavily. The music flooded her senses, and Peridot decided since it was night and nobody really came down this road, it wouldn’t hurt if she rested her eyes for just a moment. Her eyes fluttered shut, and she took in the moment of relaxation, breathing deeply.

Calmly, she opened her eyes again, but quickly her calmness turned to sheer panic as she saw a truck stopped in the middle of the road up ahead and a woman with distractingly blue hair waving both arms frantically, begging Peridot to stop.

Peridot stomped on the brake pedal, as she gripped the steering wheel so tightly her hands hurt. Her car squealed as it stopped so suddenly, jerking forward and causing Peridot to hit her head right on the steering wheel. It took a moment for Peridot to start breathing again, though her breaths came in shaky bursts, and she held her hand up to her head. Pain throbbed through her forehead, and she couldn’t force herself to think straight. Her heart was still pounding alarmingly.

“Fuck, shit,” Peridot cursed to herself, trying to blink away the shock that coursed through her veins at almost running down a random woman with her car at 3 AM.

Once she decided she was going to live, Peridot flung her seatbelt off and opened the car door forcefully. She stumbled her way out of it, nearly hitting her head on the roof on her way out.

That woman came rushing over to her, saying quickly, “Holy shit, fuck— Are you—“ She reached up like she was going to touch Peridot’s forehead, and Peridot instinctively swatted her hand away.

“It’s 3 A.M. and I nearly died,” Peridot hissed, her exhaustion and pain making her feel even more irritated than she had been, “how do you think I’m doing?”

Whatever care there had been in the strange woman’s eyes was now gone, and she crossed her arms before she glared back. “Maybe if you had been paying attention and weren’t going so fast, you wouldn’t have had your,” She put on a sarcastic babyish voice and waved her hands, “Oh-so-tragic near death experience.”

“What—“ Peridot stared at the woman despite her head’s throbbing pain, “the truck sitting in the middle of a tiny, dark road, is yours. Not mine!”

The woman appeared to be at a loss, because she didn’t bite back with words of her own, and instead just kept glaring. Peridot decided she had won that round.

After a moment of uncomfortable, tense silence, she groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose with her fingers. “Okay, I’m sorry,” She muttered so quietly Peridot barely heard her. “Look, will you please just,” She looked at Peridot with those wide blue eyes, “help me? If I have to stay here any fucking longer, I’m afraid I won’t get so lucky with the next person who drives by.”

Peridot held her breath for a moment without realizing it, somewhat considering ditching the woman. She quickly shook herself, that was seriously wrong. Pain and sleep deprivation was hurting her morals. Releasing the breath she held, her pain starting to fade just a bit, she looked at the woman. “Sure. But how exactly am I supposed to know you’re not, like, a serial killer, or trying to mug me, or something?”

“Well, while I was very tempted to slam your face into the dirt a minute ago,” She muttered, “I think you’re fine, now. Guess you’ll just have to trust me.” The last line was said with less tension and more tease.

“Charming,” Peridot raised her eyebrow and finally let herself get a good look of this woman with the headlights of her car. The stranger was an odd sight, indeed— with short, bright blue hair and punky clothing with rips in more places than Peridot thought was necessary. Not to mention she was way taller than Peridot. Especially since Peridot had chosen to throw on some disgusting old tennis shoes rather than her usual platform high tops that at least gave her some semblance of height.

“I’m always this charming,” She promised with a roll of her eyes, before introducing herself, “I’m Lapis Lazuli.”

Lapis Lazuli. Interesting.

“Peridot Diamond,” Peridot introduced quickly, sticking a hand out and immediately regretting how stupid she looked. But this Lapis character took her handshake, gripping her hand almost too tightly, before she let go. Peridot pursed her lips before asking, “So, what exactly do you need?”

Pursuing her lips, Lapis glanced back at her truck. It was a monstrous looking thing. Surely it must have used to be a nice blue, but now it was definitely rusted all over. Peridot was certain it was more rust than truck, at this point. It was not the prettiest vehicle Peridot had seen.

“My truck broke down, my tools are at home, and my phone’s been dead for like...Four days.” She explained to Peridot. She paused before saying the next line, as if she didn’t even want to say it, “Can I use your phone to, like, call my, um, girlfriend, and shit?”

Lapis said the word ‘girlfriend’ with such distaste and venom that Peridot was intrigued.

“Do you have something against charging your phone?”

“Yes,” Lapis answered so dryly that Peridot wasn’t sure if she was being serious or not.

“Sure. I suppose, no problem,” Peridot answered, and moved back to her car. She reached inside and, first, hit the emergency lights so that they would be seen if a car came this way, and then grabbed her phone off of the floorboard. It must have fallen when she slammed on the breaks. Peridot gave it a look over, thanking God that it was not broken, before she unlocked it and handed it to Lapis. “Knock yourself out.”

A tiny smile appeared on Lapis’s expression. “Thanks,” She said, before hurriedly tapping a phone number onto the screen and holding the phone to her ear as it rang. After only a second, Lapis muttered into the phone, “Jasper. It’s Lapis.”

Deducing that the girlfriend had answered, Peridot sat on the hood of her car, rubbed her sore head, and listened as best as she could to the conversation. What could she say? She was nosy.

“...Can you fucking calm down?...My truck broke down, that’s it.” Lapis held the phone away from her ear as if she had psychic powers, because right when she did, the woman on the line yelled so loudly even Peridot could hear her, and she was seven feet away from it. “Just come get me,” Lapis snapped, before rattling off the road’s address. With that, she ended the call and slumped over to Peridot, giving back her cell.

“Uh,” Peridot trailed, slightly concerned and slightly curious, “You alright, Lapis?”

“Fine.”

Though she did not want to admit it, Peridot was seriously intrigued by her.

“Do you need to call a tow truck or some shit?”

“Jasper will do that.”

The girlfriend. Right.

“...Do you want me to stay with you until your girlfriend gets here?” The offer came purely from curiosity, that’s what Peridot convinced herself.

Lapis glanced at her, “You don’t have to. It could be a little while, dude.”

“I don’t mind,” Peridot assured. Then, she smiled for the first time that night, and joked a bit, “Plus, I’d rather sit here with you for a bit than turn on the news and see a very familiar woman with blue hair got killed or something.” The smile turned into a grin as Lapis laughed at that, and honestly, Peridot enjoyed the sound. “Karma, you know.”

“Yeah, karma’s a real bitch,” Lapis agreed, as she sat down on the hood with Peridot. “Let’s just hope nobody runs both of us over.”

“I hope not,” Peridot agreed, not really in the mood to be hit by a car. Even if her general life was going... not so great.

Lapis stared at her funny for a second, and Peridot nearly got nervous.

“You know, dude,” She said with a smirk, “your forehead is hella fucked. It’s like as blue as my hair.”

Raising her fingers to ghost over the tender bruising, Peridot gaped at Lapis in disbelief, “Are you serious?” She really did not need a massive bruise in the middle of her forehead. This was so not fucking fair.

“Well, it’s getting there,” Lapis nodded, smiling widely as she nudged Peridot’s shoulder gently. “Uh, you sure we don’t need to take you to a hospital or some shit?”

“I think I’m okay, but I’ll go tomorrow or something if I get seriously messed up, I guess,” Peridot shrugged. She mostly just needed some sleep right now. Although she had to admit, this whole situation was a hell of a lot more effective than coffee would ever be. “You know something, Lapis Lazuli?”

Lapis looked at her with an eyebrow raised, urging her to continue.

“You’re weird,” Peridot observed, “Ten minutes ago you wanted to...How’d you say it? Slam my face into the dirt? Now you’re concerned?”

“I’m worried about having to pay hospital bills for your brain damage,” Lapis told her, and Peridot wasn’t entirely sure if she was kidding or not.

Maybe she somewhere between joking and being serious.

“Okay...” Peridot trailed, yawning loudly. Lapis laughed softly at her, and Peridot honestly found herself enjoying that sound. She was about to say something else, when the roar of an engine completely startled both of them. Lapis’s expression changed to one of something sour, filled with hate, anger, or something of the sort.

The two of them slid off of the car’s hood, and looked towards the headlights tearing down the road towards them. Peridot cringed painfully as the tire’s squealed to a stop, most definitely leaving marks on the road. And, shit, Peridot’s jaw nearly dropped when she saw the car, because it was the nicest car she had ever seen around here. Peridot wasn’t really a car person, but she knew it was some sort of a beautiful, red sports car. She was surprised, especially in comparison to Lapis’s beast of a truck.

A woman—Jasper, Peridot guessed—stepped out of the car, and Peridot wasn’t sure what to make of her. She had insanely messy, untamed blonde hair, wore a simple muscle shirt and shorts, and by god, she had the absolute bitchiest expression Peridot had ever seen in her life. She was huge, too, towering over her and Lapis both, and honestly Peridot was a little terrified of her.

She glanced at Peridot like she were just a piece of meat rather than a person. Her gaze was cold, threatening, and very uninviting. Peridot instantly disliked her. But that was all she did—she barely even acknowledged Peridot’s existence, before turning to Lapis and ordering, “Let’s go. I called a tow truck to come get that thing,” She pointed a slim finger at the rusty truck, “I fucking told you that thing was awful.”

Lapis just exhaled through her nose slowly and loudly, before muttering, “See you around, Peridot.”

“Bye,” Peridot said quietly, as if Jasper would turn around and slit her throat for speaking. The two of them just got into Jasper’s fancy car without another word, and Peridot barely caught sight of Lapis mouthing the words ‘thank you’ through the windshield. After only half a second, the car was backing up, and driving back down the road. Peridot stared at the headlights until they disappeared into the distance.

Lapis had been a little off-putting at first, but damn, that Jasper woman seemed like an absolute nightmare.

For a minute, Peridot just stood there.

Finally, she got the good sense to get in her car, throw it in drive, and get away from that tiny, dark road.

It was about thirty more minutes until Peridot got to the bar where Pearl and the others were. She sped into the parking lot, slammed the breaks when she parked, and dug her phone out of her pocket. It had been buzzing insistently since she had let Lapis borrow it but she hadn’t been bothered to look until now and, sure enough, there were about a million texts from Pearl.

Groaning to herself in irritation, Peridot typed quickly to let Pearl know she was there.

Not a minute later, Pearl, Garnet, and Amethyst were climbing into her car.

“Hey, Peri!” Amethyst shouted and Peridot cringed at the volume.

“Nice to see you, Peridot,” Garnet followed, much more calmly, as she sat next to Amethyst, who had all but thrown herself into the car with little care.

“Peridot,” Pearl scolded in her shrill voice upon entering the car, “what on Earth took you so long? Seriously, you—“

“Maybe if you guys didn’t choose to go to a place half an hour out of Beach City, I would’ve been here sooner,” Peridot snapped at Pearl, one thousand percent not in the mood for her nagging when she was doing them a favor.

It was then that the three of them caught sight of Peridot’s forehead.

“Yooo, that’s sick, P-Dot,” Amethyst laughed, “right in the middle of your fuckin’ face, dude.”

“Oh my goodness, are you okay?” Pearl’s voice took a turn to concern as she reached over the seat like she was going to examine the injury, “What happened?”

Peridot batted her hand away.

“Nothing important,” She muttered.

Peridot was quiet as she started the car and started driving. Amethyst was becoming increasingly loud as she rambled on about their night, Garnet made a short comment every once in a while, while Pearl tried to scold Amethyst into being calmer to no avail. It just made Amethyst laugh louder.

As Peridot drove down the tiny, dark road, she spared a glance towards the tow truck that was picking up that hideous truck.

She snickered to herself.

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what u think! and feel free to follow my new tumblr, also by the name of yeehawlazuli, ill be posting general su stuff and about my fics :)


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